Study the doodle above.  How many images do you think you could pick out with a watercolour pen to define?  The above painting is an example of what I do when I am without clear direction.   I  thoroughly wet my paper, and then take my colour mixed to various opacities and just drop it on to the paper.  Then go and have a coffee or two.  If we study the shapes, I can see first of all an indigo area that I could easily create a leaping salmon from, next to the right is an orange koi meeting another coming from the opposite direction, or the whole thing could be fashioned into a water nymph.  I see lots of dragony type creatures too as well as some floral and foliage form, offering lots of scope for some serious dry brushing.  Serious dry brushing means letting your painting dry so you don't rupture the surface of the paper, and go back into the colour with a just damp brush and move the paint where you want the emphasis.   This exercise will give you confidence in your watercolours.  Practice moving the paint, even blotting out the heavier colour with a damp kitchen towel.  Experimentation is the path to confidence in your watercolour work.  Don't reserve them for a carefully plotted landscape, play! Enjoy the play and use them as a tool as a pre-cursor to your acrylic and oil pieces. 

Watercolours are a joy to use once you have gotten to know the beast you are taming.  They can be applied as wet as you like or as dry as you like.  The important thing is that you practice and learn where your comfort zone is.   I love watercolour when I apply it wet on wet which is especially great if you are working outside because you can capture colour, shape and form quickly.  I personally rarely draw in pencil.  You are stuck with it once you have painted it in so unless you are really confident in your drawing, use either pastel - NOT charcoal - to sketch, or a very dilute Payne's Grey applied with a fine brush.  Better still, be brave and just go in with the paint! The sketch to the left was done at Woolacoombe Bay in Devon.  The sketch took about five or six minutes.  I wanted particularly to replicate the shape and form of the rocks, the hazy hills in the distance, the choppiness of the sea complete with resultant surf dancing up the sandy beach, leaving the shoreline sand wet and further up the beach a brighter, more vibrant dry sand.    I didn't need detail just shape, form and an impression strong enough to bring home and replicate, which I did and sold the day after the work was completed.  The lady that bought it lived there and remarked on how well  I had captured the elements.  

In the well worn chestnut of photograph versus sketch debate, there are times when only a sketch will do.  To capture the energy I had to get it down quickly because the tide was moving so fast, ten minutes later the rocks would be hidden by the incoming tide, my haste shows in my brush stroke, particularly the strokes used for the water.  We wouldn't always be able to readily glean such information from a photograph.

Use your watercolour palette as you would a best friend, run everything past your trusty box of paints -  Sketches and plans for landscapes, pet portraits, plans for larger works all scaled down to fit neatly on your pad, which then becomes a journal.  I love the pads which are glued.  I can take them out and have no worries about dragging a board and masking tape with me.    It is much cheaper to experiment with colours with watercolour, especially if the finished work is planned in oil or acrylic.   

If you are finding that your watercolours are thick, you may feel more comfortable with and prefer to use a very watered down gouache or acrylic.  Acrylic ink behaves much the same way and can be watered down quite successfully. 

The important thing is to have fun an enjoy using your new skills, pushing your personal parameters a little more each time.

Here is another watercolour sketch.  Of a small French village, it was painted as the plan for a larger, 24 x 18 canvas in oil, which to this day remains unfinished.  I wanted to work on a sketch to get the stonework right, and the light further down the hill correct and the darker shadow from the tall buildings at this end relatively true to life.  I call the cat 'Lucky', because every time I get the painting out to work on it, a commission comes in and back on the rack it goes!    Six years on it is, thankfully,  very close to completion!  Never give up on a painting.  Keep getting it out, works in progress are good for the soul.  As we learn we can apply our knowledge to our WIP's and get an overall picture of our journey throughout the construction of the painting. 
Remember not to stress, try always to have  fun and most of all enjoy your work!

xx As Always Written & Offered In The Spirit Of Love xx

It's amazing the number of artists that tell me that they don't like visiting galleries because they don't want to be subconsciously influenced by the work and styles of others.

 That's like an author proudly declaring that they detest reading! 

On the one hand, I completely understand.  It happens.  Someone showed me a painting in progress only yesterday.  I reminded them that I had shown them a photograph of almost an identical scene some weeks ago.  Clearly they were flabbergasted at the suggestion that this imagery could have filtered through to their inner album, bursting into life when they needed some inspiration.  The trick is then to make the painting your own and be grateful of the prompt your internal filing system gave you.

Visit galleries as often as you can, they are not the highbrow, stuffy and shadowy places you might imagine.  Galleries are the voice of the you and the me.  They are the reference point for your favourite artist.  I love Miro.  To go and stand in front of this work at the Tate Modern and drink in every brush stroke, every painterly moment not to mention the electricity of that beautiful Miro energy that pulled you into it's aura like a nebula waiting to devour your heart... okay, .. okay I am getting carried away now, but you know, if you don't go to galleries, where on earth do you set your bench mark for your own work?  I never knew that Blue II was the size of a wall until I stood beside it awestruck.  A little tear escaped as I thought of how my Uncle would have probably loved to be there with me.   For some time after I found myself sneaking a little blue into my paintings, now I have to say here that blue is my least favourite colour, and unless it is vital will not ever have been in a painting by choice.  But what I learned is that blue has many shades, and actually there are some shades I quite like and in fact are rather energising.  The Blue II is such a blue.  I had never ever gleaned that from the many photographs of the work.  Leonora Carrington.  A marvellous surrealist.  At Pallant House Gallery I could scrutinise her colours her sketches, how she constructed a painting.  Frida Kahlo .. it was marvellous to drift through the exhibition and really deconstruct the narratives.  Something you cant really do from a photograph of a painting, it just doesn't feel the same.

And then there is the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.  It is free to go inside as are most of the London galleries.   When you walk among the masters something happens to your soul.  You will never be the same again.   Every time I go I feel myself being absorbed and ingested by the heart of the place.  I adore Hammershoi.  The first time I ever saw a Hammershoi in the flesh was in the National Gallery, when it was on loan as part of an exhibition.  I just stood for a very long time analysing every square millimetre in awe at the precision of it all.  The subdued tones, the silence of the work.  Yes the silence, even in a room of two hundred people.  Hammershoi paints silence better than anyone.   At the other end of the scale, Yoko Ono creates evokes and captures emotion better than anyone.  Her recent exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery was awesome.  I couldn't get there because of health issues (gutted, gutted, gutted) but I did visit the online pages and was absolutely captivated by the animated John Lennon, the Smile project an the emotional depth of the installations. 

Then there is the Tate Modern.  Oh! Bliss!  Very upbeat, very chilled, lots going on!  A great place for the family.  Tate Britain, a bit of everything and you can catch the boat between the two, even more fun, but you would need the whole day to do both.  

Equally, a local exhibition of a group can be just as inspiring!  Locally in the south we have Pallant House Gallery, which is up there with the major galleries, although you do have to pay to get in.  Gosport has a gallery, most towns and cities do.  The Southampton gallery is home to some marvellous works and exhibitions. 

The key is to feed yourself.  Not just from books, from life.  If you really don't fancy a gallery, go to an art market or auction - google 'Art market + area' Make it your business to see art in the flesh and it will help you to paint well.  You will have a bench mark engraved on your heart that will go everywhere with you.  Wishing you all a beautiful weekend. Please share this on your Facebook page, lets try and get everyone into a gallery this weekend!

xx As always written and offered in the spirit of love xx

Artist's block.  I prefer to think of it as a self inflicted barricade erected by the innermost self between the artist  and the canvas.  It  mostly manifests from the artist's resistance to the subject matter, and often occurs in times of pressure such as a commission, or specific group or class  brief, or when we are painting something that really doesn't float our boat.

You have to form a relationship with your subject matter to be able to pour love down that paintbrush and on to that canvas.  If you are not enjoying the subject matter you will manifest bitterness with every stroke and the end result will be a work that is stiff and heavy, which is fine if the subject matter is the Berlin wall....  The work has to bring you a joyful experience.  It can be challenging and still be joyful, but if the challenge is actually pressing on with it then you need to scrutinise what is really going on.  

I remember one pupil that was so keen to get on to oils from watercolours that we booked in an afternoon to get started.  They were mortified when I asked them to sketch their subject, and when they had done this I asked them to do it again.  I then asked them to do a quick watercolour sketch.  They were not a happy bunny I can tell you.  I then explained that I had done this so that they may get to know their subject matter and form a bond with it, to then be able to paint it with joy.

I had noted that they were so keen to progress to oils that they had given no thought at all to their subject matter.  They had no idea what they were going to do with the oils once they had gotten their hands on them! Whether their subject merited a brush or knife, whether they were going for a genteel underpainting approach or straight in there bold and brash.  The subject was a bird so these were all essential issues. After my explanation I asked them for one final watercolour sketch which was a vast improvement on the first.  So the moment arrived where my pupil was introduced to the oils and canvas and I left them to it to form another new relationship with the new medium. Their work was executed gently, thoughtfully and with grace. The painting was outstanding.

Attitude is vital to keep in check.  Put a CD on of some neutral music, light classical or new age sound works well.  Try not to listen to the radio, turning the radio on invites headless voices into your special space.  Keep such entities including the telephone and television out of your sacred painting space.

If you just cannot get enthusiastic about your subject or painting, put down your brushes and get out in the fresh air.   Just drink in life for a bit and maybe treat yourself to a coffee shop coffee and watch  the world go by.  Think about your painting enthusiastically planning it out in your mind's eye.  See it completed.  When you find yourself smiling to yourself, you've cracked it, it's time to return to the easel.  

If the smile doesn't come,  then the chemistry between you and your subject matter is unlikely to manifest.  Unless it is a commission, move on.    If it is a commission, then you need to work on your relationship with the work.  Are you happy with the commission?  Perhaps you feel you have undersold yourself?  Maybe you have a personality issue with the client?  Resentment can create huge blocks.  Confront it and stop blaming the painting, the painting is to be loved, for always.  

Before you leave the page, watch the video performance of The Beatles performing 'All You Need Is Love' once more, let it penetrate so that it rattles around in your subconscious when you need it.   Once you crack it with the painting, radiate it outward...... who knows what little difference you may make to someone's day!  

xx As always written and offered in the spirit of love xx